One question has vexed me for some time, and I would appreciate the insight that any Boomers might have.

Simply, why does any game developer of a first-person game ever use the 90 degree slide show format anymore. Clunky and disorienting, it may have wowed us all when Myst came out in '93, but now?

I just replayed Amerzone and the first two Draculas, made in 1999 and 2000. These games all had a user-friendly 360 panning interface, so this is not new technology.

So why was the slide-show format regrettably not consigned to the dust-bin of gaming history from the time Amerzone hit the store shelves. (Out of curiosity, does anyone know which game was the first to use 360 degree panning?)

Yet people are still sticking with it almost fifteen years later. The Nancy Drews still use it, and I read that the upcoming Bracken Tor games will also.

I'll get the Braken Tor games when (and if) they come out, and I know I'll enjoy them, as I did Barrow Hill but the fly in the ointment will still be that the playing experience was unnecessarily detracted from by the use of an obsolete and klutzy interface.

And of course one wonder why, when a clearly superior alternative has existed for almost fifteen years.

I prefer it to not have 360 panning because it tends to make me seasick so I am glad they are still making them that way. I see nothing archaic about it, I just see them as being different.

I never used to have a problem with panning games. But now when I have the least bit of queasiness (either from something I ate, or just from being too tired), playing a game with panning will magnify the queasiness to the point where I'll have to lie down to keep from throwing up. So I'm very glad there are still some first person games that allow me to play them when I'm not feeling 100% -- which is really when I need games the most because I can't do much of anything else.

Scratches gave the player a choice of panning or still screens, which was nice. Unfortunately it's also rare.

I prefer my games with the panning because I like to feel like I am moving in a game. Of course, my preference is 3d person basically for just that reason.

I agree with you, oldman. The slide-show style feels unnatural to me. I don't want to click and move half way up the road. I find myself clicking back a lot to make sure I didn't miss something. Much rather see my little avatar run up that road, searching everywhere! I'm a scenery gazer in games too. I'll stop and just pan around to enjoy the graphics!

That said, I have gotten nauseous in some free-swinging 360 games. When that happens, I try to find some way to slow the mouse speed or make the movement not so sensitive.

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"Dragons were never gone. They were just invisible and very, very quiet." ~ M'aiq the Liar (Skyrim)

There's nothing wrong with preferring a panning style -- I used to prefer it myself before I started to have problems with panning. But I don't think snapshot/slideshow is unnatural when it actually mimics how I look at things. In real life, when I move my eyes or turn my head to look at something, I do not carefully peruse every inch of viewing space between what I'm looking at before and what I'm looking at after. I'm interested in the endpoints, not the in-between. And generally I blink my eyes when I turn my head to look in a completely different direction. It's not that different from going to a different screen in a snapshot-style game.

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I don't want to click and move half way up the road. I find myself clicking back a lot to make sure I didn't miss something.

I don't like that either, but it's not something that's exclusive to snapshot style games. It can happen with any node-based game. Cameron Files 2, which had panning, was one of the worst for it. One click would take me halfway through the museum, past many of the displays, and I kept going back and forth because I though I'd missed a hotspot.

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That said, I have gotten nauseous in some free-swinging 360 games. When that happens, I try to find some way to slow the mouse speed or make the movement not so sensitive.

Unfortunately that doesn't work for me anymore. I have to either close my eyes or look away from the screen while it's moving. Sometimes I can get away with looking a foot or two to the right or left of the monitor and getting some idea of what's going on with peripheral vision. Either way is a lot worse than clicking through still images because I have to pay so much attention to not getting sick.

Well, we may differ on what we prefer in games, but I can certainly relate to having something not work for me the way it used to! In my case, my eyesight is not what it was, nor are my "lightening reflexes." Small print? Forget about it! Dexterious hand movements? Not gonna happen!

Not sure what has caused your recent dizziness trouble, but for my issues, it's just a matter of aging.

_________________________
"Dragons were never gone. They were just invisible and very, very quiet." ~ M'aiq the Liar (Skyrim)

Sometimes I wonder if the med I take for hypertension causes as many issues as it treats. Warning: May cause drowsiness, upset stomach, dizziness, or headaches. Don't operate heavy machinery ... So, is a computer heavy machinery? Hmm.

_________________________
"Dragons were never gone. They were just invisible and very, very quiet." ~ M'aiq the Liar (Skyrim)